The Story of the YEG ACC Ice Wall
Famous it may be, but the familiar idiom “If you build it they will come” is actually a misquote from the 1989 baseball movie Field of Dreams. The actual quote is:” If you build it, he will come” (not they). The film itself is a metaphor for pursuing your dreams, and when used in the context of the ACC Edmonton Section dreams, the “they” certainly fits best.
Back in June 2009, the Section formed a subcommittee to plan and deliver on how best to commemorate the centennial of the ACC in Edmonton. In attendance at that first meeting were: Jen Larson, Donna McColl, Dan Hallet, Ian McCalder, Neil Bosch, Ernst Bergmann, and Pearlann Reichwein. It was at this meeting that the long-standing dream of having an ice climbing wall in Edmonton was formally approved as an action item. Also part of the Centennial activities was a banquet and silent auction, a commemorative magazine and an expedition to summit Mount Edmonton, an objective of which Rick Collier had made the second and only other ascent in 1928.
The renewed ice wall efforts began in 2018 by Tim Hankinson and Reid Fink. A business case was developed and pitched to the city of Edmonton. Potential locations included the Edmonton Elks football stadium parking lot, John Fry Park, or Sunridge Ski Hill. In the summer of 2020 serious talks began with ESC about their location with Adam Luciuk (their GM at the time).
Having vetted the concept with the City of Edmonton and local ski hill operators, it was then that the work of making a dream come true truly began. Evaluating the two prospective sites/partners of Snow Valley and Edmonton Ski Club (ESC) would continue in tandem with the preliminary architect and engineering involvement initiated to facilitate budget estimates and grant applications. Relevant permits, building codes, regulations, and restrictions need to be addressed, partnership agreements developed, sponsors sought, liability insurance negotiated, and project-specific fundraising had to begin in earnest.
Well, the 100th Anniversary came and went. Following the initial conversations, the decision to partner with ESC was firmed up. There was also a significant investment in geological surveying the ESC site, but then a major impediment popped up. The City of Edmonton was going to run its newest LRT train, The Valley Line, right along the top of the ski hill. In the interim, nothing could be built on the adjacent land.
Construction finally began on The Valley Line in Spring 2016, and although it was supposed to be completed in December 2020 it is now expected to open in summer 2022. Fortunately, by winter 2020-21 the rail infrastructure was far enough along to permit the piloting of an ice wall at Edmonton Ski Club.
2020-2021- The First Year
The original 2021 Build committee was Tim Hankinson, Brenton Buziak, Kory Blackmore, and Brandon Walker. The development and construction of that initial ice wall was a steep learning curve. There is no manual for man-made ice waterfalls, and it took experimenting with different materials to grow the wall to the desired height. It took roughly three weeks to build the ice wall, which opened January 14, 2021, and required 3-4 sessions of additional ice building prior to closing March 13, 2021.
One highlight that stands out among the media interest from that first year is that Travel Alberta shot a commercial segment at the ice wall. Some of that footage can be seen at Travel Alberta.
Despite the many behind-the-scenes challenges, that pilot year saw a good amount of use through its 59 days of operation, despite around 7 days of closures due to extreme cold weather (highs of sub -20 ͦC). Upon analysis, the three key partners – Alpine Club of Canada Edmonton Section, Edmonton Ski Club, and Factory/Boulders Climbing (aka Rock Jungle) agreed to collaborate to ensure a second year of ice wall activities in the heart of the city.
A New and Improved Wall for 2021-2022
Year two saw construction of what was essentially the same on-site rental scaffolding and made use of the 2020-21 infrastructure investments in pipes and wires and hoses. However, the build committee, consisting of Lucas Stone (committee lead), Desiree Gerber, Brenton Buziak, Ben Vandenberg and Duncan McColl together with a solid troop of other volunteers, constructed a rather different, free-standing base for the ice. Switching to a wooden A-frame base proved to better bear the weight of the ice and adding extra sprinklers along with heated hoses made growing the ice much more efficient. There were many hours of late nights and early mornings attending to water flow, thawing frozen equipment and general maintenance donated by the builders.
Upon completion of the build, the Factory /Boulders partnership came into play, and provided professional instructional staff for individual and group climbing lessons. According to timesheets, ~700 paid hours were worked at the ice wall this year, much of it dedicated to introducing people of the never-climbed-before sort to the safety protocols, tools and techniques used on natural ice falls.
Among combinations of people who pushed themselves into a new comfort zone with ropes, axes and crampons, some standouts include a birthday party of six 20-something women with a penchant for laughter, a mother-daughter pair bonding deeply as they developed deeper trust and new skills, some romantic couples on dates and several multi-generational families giving it a go together. Also of note were “the regulars”, members who had purchased a seasons pass and were at the wall several evenings and weekends each month of operations. These folks were excellent ambassadors for the ACC and their conversations with the learners were often entertaining for all.
The First YEG Ice Fest
With a nod to the supposed waning of covid spread, the Alpine Club also initiated talks with its partners on what would become Edmonton’s Inaugural YEG Ice Fest, held on February 26. 2022. Representing the ACC Edmonton Section on the ice fest organizing committee were Tim Hankinson, Stacey Yuen, Carla Ramsay, and Peter Moore. The event was sponsored by Arc’teryx West Edmonton, Red Bull Canada, SYC Brewing, Factory & Boulders Climbing.
Over that one-day festival, 349 people took advantage of the Climb Free opportunity. Most surprising was how happy people were to stand in line and wait for 2-3 hours to climb for a few minutes. So, to paraphrase, if you build it (and its FREE) they will definitely come. Overall, an estimated over 1000 people of all ages and abilities came down to Edmonton Ski Club to take in the fun atmosphere, which, in addition to the tubing, skiing and boarding offered by Edmonton Ski Club included:
- ACMG guide Sarah Hueniken and Red Bull athlete Will Gadd along with two Arc’teryx WEM ambassadors came to offer “Learn From The Pros” advanced climbing clinics
- Try fat biking for FREE with Mud Sweat & Gears
- Obstacle course and more in the Kid’s Zone
- The Track ‘N Trail Fun FREE Challenges (ice block haul and snowball toss)
- SYC Brewing Patio Takeover
- Door and Competition Prizes from our sponsors
- Food Trucks, Music, nine Vendor Booths and more!
More Festivals
The Edmonton Section also supported a long-standing Edmonton winter festival, The Flying Canoe Volant, by providing ice climbing demos during canoe races on March 4&5. In the future, perhaps the Yeg Ice Fest will prove to be as long-standing and popular as Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, the Ice on Whyte Festival, or the Silver Skate Festival.
Truly, every season is Festival Season in Edmonton, and getting that word out is very important for the tourism sector.
The Ice Wall in the Media
It may interest readers to know that one pair of Instagram travel influencers steered to the ice wall by Travel Alberta spent three hours learning to climb. Of course, that included lots of time for shooting still photographs, video clips and commentary and B-roll (aka extra footage for future purposes) for what amounts to a matter of just seconds when posted. Seems like a lot of time, but with a reach of 241,000 and 854,000 followers respectively, having halleytakesontheworld (California, USA) and wil_dasovich (Philippines) rave about their on-ice experiences, it was time well spent.
With less global reach but a far more immediate impact on the success of the ice wall season, local news outlets including Global TV, CBC & CTV made time to report on the ice climbing opportunity available to Edmonton and area climbing enthusiasts. Meeting with reporters was often a last-minute request but “the news” media tends to operate on tight turnarounds with interviews taking 30-45 minutes for a 2-minute broadcast or a newspaper story. Notable media attention this year was in this CBC article “Peak Perfection”.
More media coverage on the YEG ACC Ice Wall can be found here: YEG Ice Wall Media.
While the Ice Wall is shuttered for the 2021-2022 season, you may find some ice in the mountains, but rock climbing season is just around the corner. So keep an eye on the Section trips calendar for the coming warm weather outings.
Thank you to Donna McColl for sharing article, and to Stacey Yuen and Tim Hankinson for their contributions.
